Robot 6

Robot 666 | Parasomnia, Part One

As a part of Robot 666 week, we’re pleased to present Parasomnia by artist Greg Hinkle, who teamed up with several writers to tell the story of a young woman’s nightmares, which are the key to unlocking a deeper secret. Here’s what Greg had to say about this first story, an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft tale:

I’ve always wanted to draw a Lovecraft story, but it’s always been a little intimidating. His stories always deal with some grandiose cosmic unknown. Usually some indescribable evil. (They discussed some of the same stuff during the West Hollywood Book Fair’s HP Lovecraft panel, earlier this month.) I knew that Lovecraft had done some short stories, and I figured I’d better start small. “The Terrible Old Man” is less than 1,200 words, and less than three pages in the book I have. It’s completely without dialogue, too, which appealed to me. Lovecraft’s approach is similar to his longer works, and he let’s almost all of the action take place off-page, leaving the reader to insert his own scary stuff. It confronts the threat from outsiders, in this case, quite literally, but gives the story a shot of the supernatural.

Parasomnias are a class of sleep disorders which include sleep walking, sleep talking, and night terrors. They’re characterized by a partial arousal, or the body becoming caught in between a state of waking and deep sleep. So I wanted a story that could set the tone for a confused state of arousal. And who better to set the stage for a confusing, dreamy state, than the grand-daddy of mind-bending horror?